After a long stretch where the Vancouver Canucks played 1 game over the course of a week, Game 2 of the Western Conference Final goes tonight and the "every other day" playoff schedule resumes. For the Vancouver Canucks, this is a good thing.
For the San Jose Sharks? It seems to be a different question.
If the Canucks were looking for bulletin board material after their 3-2 victory in Game 1, they've got it in spades right now. Excuses poured out of the Sharks' players. Ryan Clowe hinted that the Sharks were tired and worn down from a long series with the Red Wings. Dan Boyle accused the Canucks en masse of diving. Logan Couture said that the Canucks didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary to win as the Sharks lost that game all by themselves.
Only coach Todd McLellan seemed willing to direct any credit towards the Canucks, with the double edged statement - "They found their legs while we lost ours."
So was Game 1 a situation where the Sharks jumped out to a 2-1 lead, the Canucks turned it on and came back and won? Or was it that the Sharks started strong and simply gave up, allowing the Canucks to steal a win that rightfully belonged to the visitors in teal?
It's all a little reminiscent of Jonathan Toews stating that the Chicago Blackhawks had not "exposed the Canucks for what they are" back in Round 1, a statement that had Canuck Nation aflap.
Lost in the parade of "reasons" why the Sharks lost Game 1 that were offered up by their players was the fact that Daniel and Henrik Sedin had their best game in some time. Henrik in particular, who has battled speculation that he is playing hurt since the playoffs began. He made a great play to get the puck deep to Alexandre Burrows on the tying goal, and made a slick move in front of the net to bury the game winner just minutes later. He looked strong on the puck, he looked involved in the play, he looked rejuvenated. The break had clearly done him some good.
Another thing that the Sharks might want to consider before they blame Game 1 on their long, seven game series with the Detroit Red Wings too much, is how the Vancouver Canucks played in Game 1 of Round 2 after a seven game series against the Blackhawks.
It seems like years ago when Roberto Luongo and the Canucks shutout Nashville 1-0 in Game 1, a game where Pekka Rinne seemed to be the only Predator on the ice and his team couldn't get anything going against a hard charging, physical Canucks team. Nashville coach Barry Trotz alluded to the fact that there was some emotional carryover for Vancouver from having played Game 7 just two nights before. So where was it for San Jose?
It would just seem easier to blame fatigue for the loss rather than look in the mirror.
But this all brings us to tonight. Both teams have had a couple of days to rest, their last lengthened break of this round. The Canucks hold a 1-0 series lead and have the chance to head to San Jose with double that tonight. The Sharks have a 2-9 all-time record in Western Conference Final games, and you have to think the Canucks could plant a big seed of doubt in their head should they manage to strike again tonight.
The Sharks are promising more energy and a more physical presence. The Canucks were easily the dominant physical team in Game 1 long before they came back on the scoreboard. Joe Pavelski (poor guy) was the recipient of two earth-shattering bodychecks from Alexander Edler and Chris Higgins. Kevin Bieksa made life truly uncomfortable for anyone who came down the boards on his side of the ice. The the third line of Jannik Hansen, Maxim Lapierre and Raffi Torres were doing their best impressions of wrecking balls all evening.
The Canucks will sport a slightly different look to their lineup, and it might have something to do with the above. Tanner Glass will come out of the lineup after delivering only 1 bodycheck in his last three games. For a player who relies on physical play as his bread and butter, that simply isn't good. Speed demon Jeff Tambellini will take his place in the lineup, his first start since the Canucks' series clinching victory over Nashville in Round 2. Tambellini is no slouch in the hitting department either, having delivered over 100 hits in just 62 regular season games this year. His speed could also give the bigger, slower Sharks some issues.
Meanwhile, between the pipes, two goaltenders will both try to rebound from Game 1. Antti Niemi was the best Shark on the ice, but he allowed some juicy rebounds and seemed to struggle when the Canucks started putting pucks high on him. Roberto Luongo gift-wrapped a goal that Joe Thornton was only to happy to deposit into the net behind him, and while Luongo has had a solid playoff, his penchant for letting in iffy goals really needs to stop. The silver lining here is that he did not crumble after the give away, but instead remained in form to make several key stops which allowed the Canucks to come back in the game.
In the end, both teams are promising to be better tonight and there will be some slightly different looks to the game. It should be a treat.
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